I'll preface this by saying that this isn't an anti-Obama rant, and I don't want to start a political pis$ing match like we've seen (and I've started) on this forum in the past. I simply want to share my family's experience with the new "Affordable Care Act," and how it's going to impact my family, effective Jan 1st.

We all saw the president and speaker Pelosi reassuring Americans that "if we liked our plans, we could keep our plans. If we liked our doctors, we could keep our doctors." Well, that couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, it was a downright lie. I started "shopping around" (as I was told to do) for the new ACA compliant plans, and this is what I found:

Everyone, nearly everyone, who is on a current plan they've purchased from the marketplace or was chosen by their employer, will not have plans ACA compliant. If you are a male, and your current plan does not include maternity coverage (for any of you gentlemen who do not plan on birthing a child), then your plan is not ACA compliant. If you have children on a plan without maternity coverage (for any of your infants, toddlers, and teenagers who do not plan of birthing a child), then their plan is not compliant. Basically, plans were never written to be compliant with the ACA, because the ACA is a framework of healthcare insurance requirements which is designed to increase the costs of the average insurance plan to subsidize the cost of providing healthcare for all. (no, I am not ok with that)

People always ask, "what are the poor going to do, how are they going to purchase healthcare"? It's simple: the less you make, the less you pay, all done through annual tax credits. (revenue generated by overcharging the middle class)

We are small business owners, and my fiancé works for the company. So we do not have an employer to share the burden of the cost increase (as if that is a good thing), it is on us, and us alone. We have independent contractors whom we wanted to eventually bring on as salaried employees, with benefits, 401K, etc. There is no freakin' way that would ever make sense under this new law, so we are to expect to continuously deal with a crapshoot of contractors, coming and going, for the indefinite future.

My family's insurance premiums were quoted to show an increase of 182% in the first effective ACA year. Our deductibles have increased 500%. Basically, the cost to insure my family has now risen to the cost of a monthly mortgage payment. We are not wealthy, we are just average Americans, and this will absolutely have an impact on our finances and the decisions we have to make as a family.

Needless to say, I'm livid. And to make a $hit sandwich even $hittier, this "amazing and affordable" healthcare legislation is good enough for my kids, but not the President's kids?

So there ya have it. Not sure how this ACA fiasco is going to affect your family, but that is how it affected mine.

Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery. - Winston Churchill

The idea of coverage add-ons went from a small bump (ie: covering Pediatric vaccines, which many policies really didn't cover well) to enormous bumps once the lobbyists got into the mix and the regulations got written.

Some of the healthcare bumps are artificially big. Â Vaccines cost more than they need to because companies have to maintain massive reserves for the inevitable lawsuits in which some family thinks their kid got a D in math because of his flushot and some hollywood hottie gets on a talk show about how nasty vaccines are. Â Tort reform makes that better.

OB coverage is way more money because of birth defect lawsuits (again tort reform would have made this better, as would a basic understanding of how CP actually happens.)

OB coverage is also more expensive because of the wasteful nature of the "birthing suites" concept of childbirth. You have a room that looks like all the other hospital rooms and then a specialized birthing OR, you have a room that could Â be used for a woman with a broken leg (and the costs are nominally higher than a regular room, but spread out over other patients). Â You have a "birthing suite" and you have to pay for the postpartum surf and turf somehow, to say nothing of the fancy lighting and the paneling. Â Want less OB cost, then revisit the whole concept of the over the top L and D unit.

What scares me is what happens to my patients with hemophilia. Â Most of them have pretty normal medical use and expenses as long as you don't add in the $250k a year in clotting factor they need to stay out of a wheelchair. Â Currently, this gets covered by major medical. Â With the ACA, the cost of drugs won't count against your deductible.

What I would do to see DTO's reaction to this. The ACA is a shame. The hospital I work for sent an email out to its employees saying that we should expect 'double-digit' increases in the cost of our insurance through the hospital. It also said that First Data was anticipating a cost jump of 400%.

When fortune smiles on something as violent and ugly as revenge, it seems proof like no other that not only does God exist, you're doing his will.

To me, one of the most damning components of this thing is that none of the politicians is willing to be a part of it. Â I haven't paid much attention because thankfully I have insurance through work, but I'm expecting negative changes in how that works too since I'm not poor and will be paying for someone who might be.

cdub wrote:To me, one of the most damning components of this thing is that none of the politicians is willing to be a part of it. I haven't paid much attention because thankfully I have insurance through work, but I'm expecting negative changes in how that works too since I'm not poor and will be paying for someone who might be.

I've googled the premise that Congress is exempt from ACA and haven't been able to get a straight answer. I've noticed that most 'neutral' articles stop short of saying that it's entirely true, but don't exactly say it's totally false either. Most of them were |expletive| sites that would focus on one politician's statement rather than the whole argument. Under that light, I don't use this line when I argue against ACA.

When fortune smiles on something as violent and ugly as revenge, it seems proof like no other that not only does God exist, you're doing his will.

They are exempt from having to enter the exchange, and having their personal information and health records become public knowledge. Sure, they will have ACA compliant plans, all the bells and whistles, but they'll get it for free without having to enter the exchange. They won't even have to navigate that broken As$ website.

Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery. - Winston Churchill

RNcyanide wrote:Sebelius seems quite content to be a human shield for the President while he claims ignorance to the whole website escapade. If ignorance truly is bliss, Barack has to be the happiest man alive.

She has zero incentive to not fall on the sword. Â As long as she doesn't have to cop tovfelony jail time, she keeps her well paid job and then lands a lobbyist job or academic job that will pay her Kore than she could spend. Â Confess that Obama knew or that his WH people are to blame, and she gets the whole thing blowing up on her.

RNcyanide wrote:Sebelius seems quite content to be a human shield for the President while he claims ignorance to the whole website escapade. If ignorance truly is bliss, Barack has to be the happiest man alive.

Obama doesn't seem to have any idea what's going on in this country. Let's see.... he 'didn't know' about the NSA.... 'didn't know' about the healthcare website.... 'didn't know' that pregnant women shouldn't be standing in the sun....

RNcyanide wrote:Sebelius seems quite content to be a human shield for the President while he claims ignorance to the whole website escapade. If ignorance truly is bliss, Barack has to be the happiest man alive.

Obama doesn't seem to have any idea what's going on in this country. Let's see.... he 'didn't know' about the NSA.... 'didn't know' about the healthcare website.... 'didn't know' that pregnant women shouldn't be standing in the sun....

I could add to that list, but the funniest thing, is that he claims to learn all these things from watching news reports. It's unbelievable.

I will say, though, you give me hope that youngsters will think for themselves, without being told by some far left, or far right, idiot, how to think.

Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery. - Winston Churchill

I can believe that. Jimmy Carter was a micro manager and wanted to know everything and hardly got much done...Ronald Reagan allowed his boys to do all their business for him, I am sure he didn't know much about the Iran Arms trade...

I never implied the two were of similar content. People started bringing up other situations of Presidential undersight. This was just a sample of undersight in another tenure. You don't know everything that goes on in your administration.

Of course, this world is a very big place, and there would be no single-source of information with which to inform the president on all domestic and world affairs. Wait, that is what his enormous staff of experts, advisors and daily CIA briefings is for.

You don't learn of the Benghazi terror attack from NBC news, if you are the president of the United States. You don't learn of the IRS targeting scandal from the news, if you are the President of the United States. You don't learn of the Fast & Furious gun-running scandal from the news, if you are president of the United States. The list goes on, and it's nothing more than intentional unaccountability because he knows the American media will not press the issue, and that the American people will apathetically sit by his side regardless.

There really, at least in my estimation, is no way to argue we've had a president who was truly for the people since Kennedy - his sexual copulation between his many mistresses not included.

Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery. - Winston Churchill

S33 wrote:Of course, this world is a very big place, and there would be no single-source of information with which to inform the president on all domestic and world affairs. Wait, that is what his enormous staff of experts, advisors and daily CIA briefings is for.

You don't learn of the Benghazi terror attack from NBC news, if you are the president of the United States. You don't learn of the IRS targeting scandal from the news, if you are the President of the United States. You don't learn of the Fast & Furious gun-running scandal from the news, if you are president of the United States. The list goes on, and it's nothing more than intentional unaccountability because he knows the American media will not press the issue, and that the American people will apathetically sit by his side regardless.

There really, at least in my estimation, is no way to argue we've had a president who was truly for the people since Kennedy - his sexual copulation between his many mistresses not included.

Not sure I would say Kennedy was for the people considering how he and the dems in congress blocked the civil rights act. Â Truman and Ike both did better.

S33 wrote:Of course, this world is a very big place, and there would be no single-source of information with which to inform the president on all domestic and world affairs. Wait, that is what his enormous staff of experts, advisors and daily CIA briefings is for.

You don't learn of the Benghazi terror attack from NBC news, if you are the president of the United States. You don't learn of the IRS targeting scandal from the news, if you are the President of the United States. You don't learn of the Fast & Furious gun-running scandal from the news, if you are president of the United States. The list goes on, and it's nothing more than intentional unaccountability because he knows the American media will not press the issue, and that the American people will apathetically sit by his side regardless.

There really, at least in my estimation, is no way to argue we've had a president who was truly for the people since Kennedy - his sexual copulation between his many mistresses not included.

Not sure I would say Kennedy was for the people considering how he and the dems in congress blocked the civil rights act. Truman and Ike both did better.

My understanding is that Kennedy, instead of focusing singly on civil rights (mainly racism) pushed for more across-the-board legislation to improve the standard of living (housing, wages, health care) for all of the poor, because, at that time, there were still millions of Caucasian nationalities (Irish, Polish, Italian, etc) persecuted against, as well.

I can't think of another president who could have navigated the Cuban Missile Crisis (which, admittedly, he almost completely |expletive| up) and Russian President Khrushchev without all-out nuclear war.

Also, many historians believe that Kennedy was actively trying to strip the Federal Reserve of its powers, by forcing silver certificates into law by way of executive order 11110, so that we would have a currency which is actually backed by something of intrinsic value, not simply monetizing fictitious federal reserve notes, all done by a group of ultra-wealthy, private bankers. A move that would have been most beneficial to all future Americans. And, oddly enough, almost immediately after his assassination, "his" silver certificates, were abolished.

JFK also favored tax cuts and was heck bent on pulling US troops from the corporate money machine in Vietnam.

That all may sound somewhat conspiracy theory-ish, but there is a lot of history to back it.

Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery. - Winston Churchill

I agree about the tax cuts. Â He and Nixon were fast friends. Â He would certainly not be welcome in today's democratic party. Â Not sure that I buy him trying to get us out of Vietnam, though it is pretty clear that he was not going to ramp it up like Johnson did.

As for the silver certificates, I don't know how adding these to the gold based currency would have been anything other that a stop gap anti inflation tool. Â So, not sure I give him points for this.

Lastly, he bugged the whitehouse. Â Johnson and Nixon both used it. Â Nixon wished he hadnt. Â

Got to say, he was a chronic narcotic user who had back pain that his supporters use to excuse the drug use, but somehow, the back pain didn't keep him from banging any PYT that would lay still.

Not sure I want my grandkids looking at him and seeing a role model. Â Truman and Eisenhower were better. Â Reagan was better. Â Bush 1 was better. Â Ford was personally better, but not as politically savvy.

bigredmed wrote:As for the silver certificates, I don't know how adding these to the gold based currency would have been anything other that a stop gap anti inflation tool. So, not sure I give him points for this.

?? The currency hasn't been gold-based since 1932. In fact, the dollar, even in Kennedy's era, directly competed with gold.

Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery. - Winston Churchill

bigredmed wrote:As for the silver certificates, I don't know how adding these to the gold based currency would have been anything other that a stop gap anti inflation tool. So, not sure I give him points for this.

?? The currency hasn't been gold-based since 1932. In fact, the dollar, even in Kennedy's era, directly competed with gold.

Wasn't the point of the Silver Certificates to expand the precious metal backed dollars? Â Don't know.

The point was to give the Treasury the ability to issue their own denominations of currency backed by America's silver reserves. The REAL point was to deleverage the crooked Federal Reserve, and the private bankers who ran it, who would flood our marketplace with a volatile currency backed by nothing of intrinsic value, and certainly not gold.

I'm telling you, if Kennedy would have never been shot, we could possibly be living in a much different America than we see today. Maybe even an American without 17 Trillion dollars of debt, an America that would have to stare down a stack of silver instead of a printing press before they started a war, and an America whos legislation is not built around a framework of corporate interests.

He may have been a coke-using dumpster dick, but he stared corruption in the face, at the highest levels. Who knows, maybe that's what got him killed. Don't forget, his silver certificates were yanked as little as 4 months after his assassination.

Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery. - Winston Churchill

S33 wrote:The point was to give the Treasury the ability to issue their own denominations of currency backed by America's silver reserves. The REAL point was to deleverage the crooked Federal Reserve, and the private bankers who ran it, who would flood our marketplace with a volatile currency backed by nothing of intrinsic value, and certainly not gold.

I'm telling you, if Kennedy would have never been shot, we could possibly be living in a much different America than we see today. Maybe even an American without 17 Trillion dollars of debt, an America that would have to stare down a stack of silver instead of a printing press before they started a war, and an America whos legislation is not built around a framework of corporate interests.

He may have been a coke-using dumpster dick, but he stared corruption in the face, at the highest levels. Who knows, maybe that's what got him killed. Don't forget, his silver certificates were yanked as little as 4 months after his assassination.

You peaked my curiosity. Â I looked up silver certificates. Â They were introduced in the 1870's and were converted to being backed by regular currency after the price of silver exceeded a dollar per ounce. Â They were being phased out during FDR's admin and completed their phase out in 1964. Â

Still think JFK was an over rated president who managed to gain political cover by a media with tingling legs. Â History will always remember him kindly because of his assassination, but he was at best fair to middling while in office.

The thing I find most interesting from an ironic point of view is that his friend in the Senate, Nixon would get impeached and forced from office using the same bugs and wiretaps Kennedy installed. Â JFK is seen in almost mystical terms, yet he was right there with Tricky Dick.